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Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite (1989)

Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite (1989)

A child inspires camaraderie despite imprisonment in this moving classic drama

The Very Best

8.3

Movie

Turkey
Turkish
Drama
1989
TUNÇ BAŞARAN
Füsun Demirel, Güzin Özipek, Güzin Özyağcılar
84 min

TLDR

So, so happy that classics like this are being restored, and so, so worried that we’re not doing enough to save other classics like this.

What it's about

As per Turkish law, when a mother is sentenced to prison, her children must accompany her. Barış is one such toddler, and within the women’s penitentiary, he befriends political prisoner İnci.

The take

While it isn’t always the case, sometimes there are moments when adults learn from children. Truth comes out of the mouths of babes, after all, and unburdened from the tedium and mores of everyday life, children express themselves freely, without fear. It’s this wisdom that drives Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite. Originally a novel inspired by Feride Çiçekoğlu’s 4-year stay as a political prisoner, the film is made memorable by Ozan Bilen’s performance as Barış, the precocious boy that inspires political prisoner İnci and the rest of the women's penitentiary. While writer-director Tunç Başaran’s camera makes the prison walls loom, and the prison guards direct them with mistrust and suspicion, İnci still grasps her freedom through perseverance and the joy nurtured for a little boy. It's what makes the separation all the more tragic, and it's what makes the film a classic of Turkish cinema.

What stands out

Ozan Bilen’s performance.

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